


Le Chant Des Sirènes

by FanFicReader01



Series: Peculiar encounters of a taxi driver [25]
Category: Poets of the Fall
Genre: Adventure, Domestic, Fluff, Holiday, Oneshot, Sea, Slice of Life, Spirits, Summer, Supernatural Elements, beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 20:31:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18630745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FanFicReader01/pseuds/FanFicReader01
Summary: Inspired by the French band's	Fréro Delavega's song (and partly Mob Psycho 100 hehe) came this fic to be.Olli and Jari take a small holiday at the beach together and encounter some weird happenings!Quand les souvenirs s'en mêlent, les larmes me viennent,Et le chant des sirènes me replonge en hiverOh mélancolie cruelle, harmonie fluette, euphorie solitaire





	Le Chant Des Sirènes

“I’m glad you could tag along,” you smile at Jari who sits next to you.

 “Didn’t have anything planned so might as well accompany you. Besides, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the sea up close. This is a nice opportunity,” your neighbour replies with an equal smile.

The trip to the sea takes you one and a half day. During your trip, you sometimes have some curious people asking if your taxi service still running.

Sometimes you’re glad to refuse, other times you reluctantly tell them you’re actually having a break.

 “Maybe take off the sign then,” Jari chuckles.

“Nah, it’s part of this bus. Can’t do,” you sigh and shake your head.

 

\--

 

By the time you reached the sea, the temperature has risen. No longer do you have to wear jeans. Both of you have switched to loose cargo pants. You have your windows rolled down as you casually cruise along the coast line. Jari, despite the heat, sticks his head and arm out of the window and yells. You laugh at the silly sight.

 “You’re just like a dog like that,” you jokily remark.

“Really?” Jari snorts, slightly offended.

 “Yeah. You’re a good boy,” and then you shuffle your hand through the other guy’s hair.

“I’ll take that as a compliment. It’s nice here. Salty smell but that’s alright.” You hum along and decide to switch to a local radio channel. Funky music that seems to come straight out of the 80s fills the bus.

Jari seems to know the song very well. Somehow you feel a familiarity too.

 “What’s the song?” you ask.

“It’s _Closer_ by the Marlboro Smokers, you dummy!” Jari exclaims in cultural shock.

“Oh, now I remember,” you mutter. Not remembering properly to be honest.

 

\--

 

After you’ve rented a room and put your stuff there, Jari and you go to the beach. As you drive, you see one part of the beach is heavily crowded. One part, seems strangely deserted.

 “Shall we go there?” you point out. Jari shrugs his shoulders and nods.

Once you feel the sand between your toes, you feel alright and at ease. Jari seems to like it too. he wiggles his toes and watches the grains of sand fall through it.

 “It’s nicely quiet here,” he remarks and you nod. There really is no person in sight on this part of the beach and for a second you wonder why.

 “Anyway, I’m getting into the water,” you quickly run toward the sea. Cool water splashes against your knees and ankles. Jari remains on the shore.

 “You’re not coming?”

“Maybe a bit. As long as I don’t melt and mix up with the sea,” Jari huffs as he shuffles toward you. You hold out your hand and he takes it. Together you get into the water. Almost at knee length.

“I like the wind. Cools you down. But I’m going back to the sand.”

 “Alright, I’ll take a swim in the meanwhile,” you nod.

“Don’t drown.”

 “I won’t.”

 

The sea water greets your face. Despite the salt, you open your eyes underwater. There’s not much to see. Sand, some seaweed  and sadly a plastic bag. But the water, what an amazing feeling.

You almost forgot what it was like, visiting the beach. You’re sure somewhere in your strange childhood, you must’ve visited the sea with your parents. You swim to the surface and float on your back, the sun drying your face. When you swim back to the shore, Jari has seated himself close to the water. He’s building sand castles. He dug a canal to the water so water surrounds the castle.

 “Ey, that’s some great craftmanship!” you praise your friend who smiles at you in response. Some sand is stuck in his hair. Basically, it got everywhere. You check yourself and feel there’s sand in your pants as well. That demands a shower later on!

 “Can I help?”

Jari nods and together you build more sand buildings. A few hours later you notice the sun has lowered. You got so invested in building a whole settlement of sand, you lost your sense of time.

Your neighbour laughs and stares at his creation. “Oh, no no no no!” he shrieks when the tides rise and some part of the castle gets washed away by the sea.

 “We’ll come back tomorrow and build a castle further up land,” you suggest.

“Good plan.”

 

Even after trying to dust yourself off from all sand, it keeps sticking to your skin. Even Jari, who didn’t take a swim, is covered in sand.

You make it to your car when seemingly out of nowhere someone comes running toward you. In surprise you raise your eyebrow.

An older guy with a photo camera around his neck, stops you in your tracks. He’s out of breath. His hands rest on his bent knees and he huffs and puffs.

 “You alright?” Jari questions.

The man nods. “Y-yeah. Let me introduce myself. I’m Bill, local journalist! Is it true that you two guys just came back from the beach? Over there?”

 “Eh, yes? What about it?”

“Oh my god,” Jari gasps. “Were we not allowed? I swear, we didn’t see a sign!”

 “There were no signs indeed. But well, the beach is abandoned for a reason, you know!”

“So?”

 “It’s believed the beach is haunted by a vengeful spirit!” Bill explains with big eyes.

“Well, I didn’t feel any negative presence,” you casually reply. Jari shivers.

 “I didn’t feel anything but had I known…”

“It’s alright. We have nothing to fear,” you reassure your friend. “So, what about it now, Bill?”

 “Y-you’re actually familiar with s-spirits and such?” Bill stammers in disbelief.

“Yep. Don’t you see these scars?” you grin as you point out your scars. There used to be a time you sometime covered them up, but now you decided people should just deal with it.

For a moment you wonder if Bill got either possessed by the spirit he talked about, or if he just froze. A second later Bill unfreezes, shakes his head and exclaims: “If so, please help us! Though the other part of the beach is vivid as ever, having a spirit vex one part remains bad publicity for us!”

You yawn and sigh. “Tomorrow morning, we’ll meet here again and then you can explain calmly what the exact problem is. How it came to be, and how we should solve it. I’m tired now and so is Jari.”

 Your friend eagerly nods.

“O-, oh… Well, okay, I guess. Thank you in advance!” Bill bows to you and quickly hurries away. You watch him hobble into the sunset until he becomes nothing but a dot in the distant horizon.

You step inside your bus and Jari quickly follows.

 “That was bizarre. Olli, did you really sense nothing?” Jari stammers.

“Nah. Not really. But I believe the guy.” If anyone believes in supernatural encounters, it’s you. “But don’t worry. If you don’t like it, you can stay at the hotel or wander the city a bit.”

 “No, no, I’ll accompany you and assist where I can!” Jari immediately throws back.

You chuckle. “You’re a great friend! I admire that.”

 

\--

 

The following day you enjoy a surprisingly varied breakfast. Again you ask Jari if he’s sure to tag along.

 “With a full stomach, I can face anything,” he chuckles.

“That’s the _spirit_ ,” you grin. After getting dressed properly, you go to your bus and return to the beach. The air is cooler in the morning for sure. You’ve put on your jacket and wait outside for Bill.

The man arrives with his own little car. He seems relieved to see you and Jari. He must’ve thought you wouldn’t show up in the end. But here you are. Ready to catch some spirit.

 “I’m glad you’ve made it. For a second I thought you’d back down,” Bill awkwardly chuckles.

“Nah, I’ve dealt with worst,” you nonchalantly reply.

Not digging deeper into your history, Bill starts to explain the situation anew. This time he’s more calm and understandable.

 

 _“There used to be a time the_ complete _beach was filled with tourists. People from all sorts of places would come down here to enjoy a week at the sea. However, change came when the city decided to modernize themselves and place some photo booths.”_

Bill now points over to a wooden complex. Inside the booths must be present.

 

_“At first this was a great idea. People never seen such thing before. So it made our place pretty popular and rich. Money kept on coming our way. Those were the town’s most thriving moments._

_Alas, all that fortune could not last forever. But the reason was not miscalculations on the city’s part or anything. It came from outside. Something more sinister._

_One day, some tourists reported spirit sightings on their photos in the photo booth. Of course, at first the police did not believe them. Sometimes there was some blur on the photos. The police let a qualified technician check the photo booths and repair them. But even afterward, the quality of the photos remained the same. But so did the peculiar sightings. Blurry faces in the background of the visitors._

_Less people started to come to the photo booths. And the police didn’t know what to do._

_Just when we, the townspeople, decided to get rid of these assumingly haunted booths, external sightings were reported. The spirit or ghosts residing inside the booths, had made it outside and was now haunting the place. Nobody dares to go near the stalls anymore.”_

“Has the spirit or ghost or whatever entity it is, tried to attack people?” you interrupt the story.

Bill nods with a sweaty face.

 

_“Yes. The first attempt to cast the spirit away, caused a lightning bolt to strike one of the photo booths. Another time, thunder accumulated right above that part of the beach. Nobody has dared to intervene anymore. I guess we’re just lucky the spirit hasn’t decided to take over the whole beach!”_

 

“I see, I see,” you mutter. Actually you don’t know how to approach this case but you pretend you do anyway. “Jari and I will just have a talk with the ghost and ask it to go away.” Bill looks dumbfounded by that simple answer.

 “A-Are you sure? What if it would try and kill you?!” That statement makes Jari visibly shiver. You put a hand on his shoulder and turn to Bill. “Has death occurred here due to that ghost, spirit thingy?”

 “N-no, but you can never b-be too sure,” the journalist stammers.

You wave the warning aside and point to your scars. “As I’ve said before, I’ve dealt with probably worst. Like a witch and shit. I’m sure I can handle this.”

 

Now Jari and you are walking down the beach. Jari clutches onto your arm and you don’t mind. If that makes your friend feel safe, than you ought to deal with it. The morning wind is firm, grabbing at your hoodie. First you walk down the beach. A part of the sand castles you’ve made is still intact. Nice.

 “Hello? Spirit? Ghost?” you scream into the wind.

No reaction. Even when you whisper in the ancient languages, it gives no reaction whatsoever of a possible supernatural entity.

 “Let’s check out the booths then,” you suggest.

Jari follows close behind. “Maybe there’s nothing here at all then.” He is muttering.

The wooden structure is stuffy. Definitely abandoned. You sneeze a few times as you walk through the small building. The photo booths look impressive still, even for their age. You run your fingers over it and see dust collect on your fingertips. Jari is sneezing too now.

 “Shall we give this one a try?” you choose one photo booth at random.

“I have some coin,” Jari fishes into his pocket and finds the coin you need. Great. Together you get into the small cabin and take seat  on the stools.

 “W-what now?” Jari stutters nervously.

“Now we smile,” you say, acting like this is just your regular photobooth.

 

Not paying attention to the first results, you go for a second round and this time Jari is more at ease. Together you make some silly poses in front of the camera and laugh wholeheartedly.

 “Let’s have a look finally,” you eventually say, wiping a way a tear of laughter.

“Sure.”

You take the strips that have fallen to the ground. On the first strip there’s only you and Jari. You must admit the third photo on this strip is rather blurry in the back. Meanwhile Jari is already observing the other photos. When you throw him a look, you see he is trembling. He has turned pale.

 “Lemme see,” you quickly snatch the thing out of his hands, pulling him out of shock at the same time.

Wow. There is indeed some sort of spirit in these pictures. A vague silhouette on the first photo. More concrete on the next sets.

 “Alright, time to wrap it up then,” you say as you take all photos and put them in your pocket. Then the light of the photo booth shuts down. The booth begins to rumble and Jari desperately holds onto you. Arms all wrapped around your body.

 “Hey, hey, calm down!” you exclaim. You’re not talking to Jari, though. You’re directly addressing the spirit at play here.

 ** _“Foul human beings! Who do you think you are to be here?!”_** A thunderous voice echoes through the small cabin. Jari shrieks and is like a bag of rattling bones.

 “We’re just to solve a problem here,” you remain a calm voice in all the chaos going down now.

 ** _“You mean ME?!!”_** The spirit howls. You nod. Suddenly a strong wind blows you off your chairs. You quickly help Jari back on his feet and dust off your shirt.

 “Calm down. I just want to talk to you first. I’m not going to attack you!” you promise. Then you take out the photos with the spirit on it. You wave it around.

 “Those pictures? I think they look pretty neat. Though I’d say you better smile on them too.”

 ** _“Don’t mess with me, stupid human!”_** the ghost shrieks.

You sigh. It feels like you’re dealing with a wimpy child. You order Jari to sit down. You lower yourself to the floor as well. You aren’t a threat.

Finally the spirit seems to have calmed down.

 

 **“What do you want?”** it asks.

 “I want to know why you are here. And why did you scare all those people?”

Suddenly it gets quiet. No response. For a moment you wonder if the spirit disappeared. But then it speaks up. **“I didn’t mean to scare people.”** It’s said in such a tiny voice. You wonder if the spirit is embarrassed. Then it manifests itself in front of you. Jari faints. You think of waking him up again, but realize it’s better for him to stay unconscious for now.

 The spirit looks like a man in his thirties. He is covering his face with his hands. His shoulders shock. Is he… crying?

 “Don’t pay my friend no mind. He just got a bit shocked. I swear, it’s not personal.”

 **“I-, I guess. But this is what _always happens!!!”_ **The spirit turns bigger. The eyes become glowing yellow orbs but you’re unfazed by its display of power.

 “I can bet. But you have to tone it down. I can’t talk to you if you keep making it thunder here.”

The spirit luckily obeys and turns back to its normal shape.

  **“I didn’t mean to scare people** ,” it repeats. **“I- I don’t remember much before I was in this… this undead state. But I got trapped in these photo boots. My soul kind of split up in the different machines.”**

You nod and hum. “Go on.”

  **“One day I realize I could manifest myself on the photos printed inside. I could see the people that visit these booths! It was a miracle, some sort of relief. No longer did I have to be alone!”**

The spirit looks genuinely hopeful by the way it talks and looks. He definitely used to be a human before.

 “So, so you sought companionship?”

The spirit nods and sobs. **“Apparently even such tiny moment of being with others was too much to ask for a spirit like me.”**

 Quietly you mutter: “Well, if others don’t expect a random extra person to show up in their photos, I can understand that.”

 **_“WHAT ABOUT ME THEN?! DO I NOT DESERVE SUCH HAPPINESS?!!”_** The spirit lashes out to you and you shield your unconscious friend from its harsh winds.

 “I’m not saying that. I just say I kinda understand where the frightened people are coming from.”

 **“I already tried talking to people but that only scared them further off,”** the spirit huffs.

 “Poor thing. You’re not the first spirit I’ve encountered who is like that.”

 **“Y-you do?”** the spirit seems confused. You nod and stand up again. “Let’s take a walk outside, huh?”

 

While Jari is safely in the photobooth, you and the spirit walk over the beach.

  **“It was fun seeing children play here before I-, before I scared everybody off. I was foolish,”** the spirit confesses on its own.

 “It’s alright. Everybody makes mistakes. I do too. I mean, these scars are a constant reminder of that,” you chuckle.

  **“Damn. I’m sorry for you.”**

“It’s quite alright. I learned to live with it. And you can too. Maybe there’s a way people will come back and you can actually get recognition in a positive way!” you say.

  **“You think so?”**

“Yes. But you have to change your lashing out to people and scaring them off by controlling the weather and shit,” you point out with a strict finger. The spirit eagerly nods and listens to everything you continue to say.

 “You have to gain their trust and respect again by behaving like a fun guy.”

 **“I-, I could become the town’s attraction,”** the spirit muses. The dude is right. He could be a tourist thing if he plays his cards right.

 “Then we’ll have to do some marketing. And you got to promise you won’t haunt the booths if people do not ask for it! If you show yourself, just be your regular self. Not that monstrous appearance you just did to scare us off.”

  **“I won’t, I won’t do that ever again! I promise! I’ll become a better man. A better spirit!”** the spirit exclaims. You smile. Looks like your job here is almost done.

 

\--

 

After you retrieved your friend, you go back to Bill. You tell him what happened and the deal you made with the spirit.

 “Just some lonely ghost, huh. Who would’ve thought,” Bill grumbles as you drive to the police quarters.

 “If you take away its layers of fear, you only get a lonely soul who just longs for some temporary company once in a while,” you sigh.

 “Just like you,” Jari chuckles. You give your neighbour a serious look but then crack a smile and nod.

“Just like me I guess. Just a little bit.”

At the police department, you do your word. You’re pro for the spirit to stay and after three tiresome hours of arguing and explaining you and Bill get a permission to go to the advertisement team of the town. There you have to talk anew. It’s exhausting and you wonder if you don’t turn into a spirit too at the end of this day.

 

But the day is a successful one. The next day, the change of the spirit’s heart and appearance makes it way onto the front pages of the local newspaper. You and even Jari are praised new heroes and Bill earns a new reputation.

Every evening you go back to the beach to inform the spirit on the happenings. In the meantime you also enjoy your holiday at the beach, which is still abandoned. Some curious tourists and residents do dare to come to this part as well. Luckily they enjoy their time there. The most daring, go to the photo booths with your guidance. For some people it’s their first spirit encounter. Others have had dealt with the spirit before and now it has to apologize for its stalking and creepy behaviour.

 

At the end of the holiday, you see your effort has paid off already. The beach is more crowed than before. The spirit is happy and so are the townspeople.

As a reminder you visit the photo booth with Jari for the last time. You take some silly group photos and then the spirit thanks you and Jari for your help.

On your way home, Jari stares at the pictures taken. “Amazing. You should become a spirit counsellor or something.”

 You laugh out loud. “Am I not already? With my taxi company?”

Jari sniggers. “Well, basically yes. You’re amazing Olli. I’m glad to have joined you on this fulfilling holiday.”

 “I’m glad you were on my side too. But I’m glad to be home soon.”

“Same. Home sweet home, after all,” Jari sniggers and you know he is referring to the Breathing Apartments that just fit his melty conditions’ needs.


End file.
